The Office’s Jenna Fischer recalls being fired from Matt LeBlanc sitcom Man With A Plan despite ‘nailing’ pilot: ‘Wow, I guess I’ll unpack my suitcase’
She is best known for her role as Pam Beasley in The Office.
But that signature character had cost Jenna Fischer another big gig.
The 47-year-old actress recalled being fired from Matt LeBlanc sitcom Man With A Plan despite ‘nailing’ the pilot.
She opened up about the casting story on the latest episode of her podcast Office Ladies with fellow star on the Angela Kinsey.
Aww: Jenna Fischer recalled being fired from Matt LeBlanc sitcom Man With A Plan despite ‘nailing’ the pilot
Fischer said that she was back at home in New York preparing to start promoting the sitcom when she got a call saying that she could stay home.
She explained: ‘The first thing I said was, ‘Is [‘Man With a Plan’] not getting picked up? And they said, “It’s worse than that, hun.”
‘And I was like, “What’s worse than that?” They said, “It’s getting picked up, but without you.” And I was like, “Wow, I guess I’ll unpack my suitcase.”‘
‘Wow, I guess I’ll unpack my suitcase’: The 47-year-old actress (seen in September 2019) said that she was back at home in New York preparing to start promoting the sitcom when she got a call saying that she could stay home
Man With The Plan aired over four seasons on CBS beginning October 2016 as it saw Friends star LeBlanc playing Adam Burns.
The plot of the show centered around Adam finding out that parenting is harder than he thought after his wife Andi goes back to work while he is left at home caring for the kids.
Fischer was set to play Andi but was replaced by Liza Snyder.
Fischer also said that she was going to ‘cut bangs’ into her hair for the role before receiving the call but BFF Angela, 50, insisted that she hold off.
Dynamic duo: She opened up about the casting story on the latest episode of her podcast Office Ladies with fellow star on the Angela Kinsey
Jenna said: ‘I got hired, I shot the pilot. While I was there, the network said they wanted more scenes with me.
‘I was like, ‘”I am nailing it!” More scenes means you’re doing a good job. Well, I guess after we finished it, they showed it to focus groups.’
However it seems like viewers were having a hard time separating Fischer and LeBlanc from their highly-popular NBC sitcom characters.
Angela queried: ‘And they didn’t like you?’
Leading man: Man With The Plan aired over four seasons on CBS beginning October 2016 as it saw Friends star LeBlanc playing Adam Burns
Jenna responded: ‘They said — this is a literal quote, they said, “I don’t believe Pam would marry Joey. The chemistry doesn’t work between these two.” That was the feedback they got.’
The talented actress had played receptionist Pam on The Office throughout all nine seasons from 2005 to 2013.
LeBlanc famously played Joey Tribbiani on Friends for a decade from 1994 to 2004 before reprising the role on spin-off Joey over two seasons from 2004 to 2006.
‘Dunder-Mifflin this is Pam”: The talented actress had played receptionist Pam on The Office throughout all nine seasons from 2005 to 2013
Signature role: LeBlanc famously played Joey Tribbiani on Friends for a decade from 1994 to 2004 before reprising the role on spin-off Joey over two seasons from 2004 to 2006
Angela asked: ‘They could only see you as Pam and Joey?’
Jenna responded: ‘Yeah, so it wasn’t working for them that we got married and had a family.’
Episodes of the Office Ladies podcast are released every Wednesday.